Collections: American Art: Temples and Bathing Ghat at Benares

• Download
• Add to set
• Favorite
• Posse icon
• Share
• Print

Temples and Bathing Ghat at Benares

Weeks probably painted this seemingly spontaneous sketch of the banks of the Ganges River in the sacred city of Benares during his first extended visit to India, in 1882–83. It most likely served as one of many preparatory studies for his large and important painting The Last Journey, Souvenir of the Ganges, Benares, exhibited to acclaim at the Paris Salon of 1885. Although the broad brushwork of this study is characteristic of his sketches executed on the spot, its size suggests that it may have been painted in his temporary studio in Benares, perhaps with the aid of some of the photographs that he also employed to document his firsthand observations.


• Artist: Edwin Lord Weeks, American, 1849-1903
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dates: ca. 1883-1885
• Dimensions: 19 15/16 x 29 15/16 in. (50.6 x 76 cm)
• Signature: Signed lower left: "E. L. Weeks / Benares"
• Collections: American Art
• Museum Location: This item is on view in American Identities: A New Look, Expanding Horizons, 5th Floor
• Accession Number: 77.150.1
• Credit Line: Gift of Walter Prosser
• Image: Overall, 77.150_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2009
Edwin Lord Weeks (American, 1849-1903). Temples and Bathing Ghat at Benares, ca. 1883-1885. Oil on canvas, 19 15/16 x 29 15/16 in. (50.6 x 76 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Walter Prosser, 77.150.1 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 77.150_PS1.jpg)